THE ROLE OF THE FACILITATOR IN COMPUTER-SUPPORTED MEETINGS

The ability to facilitate diverse human and technological interactions will be one of the most essential skills for leading and contributing to all levels of the organization in the future. Yet none of the rese arch to date has defined facilitation or the role of the facilitator i n depth or has provided empirically grounded guidelines for effectivel y performing this role. The introduction of Group Support Systems (GSS s)-computer technology to support group work-into organizations has cr eated yet another new facilitation role-the GSS facilitator This artic le presents the results of a rigorous assessment, using the critical i ncidents research methodology, of the role of the facilitator in compu ter-supported environments. The overall purpose of the study was to em pirically develop the critical dimensions of the facilitator's role.